EVPC responds to Sunshine Law violation

By Zach Clemens

Trail-Gazette

Posted:
01/19/2018 03:18:35 PM MST

The Estes Valley Planning Commission held their first meeting after Town Administrator Frank Lancaster alerted the Town Board to a possible violation of Colorado's Sunshine Law and addressed the issue directly while pledging changes for greater transparency and communication.

The start of the meeting had Commissioner Russ Schneider read a prepared statement on the situation. Schneider, the outgoing chair, sent an email on Jan. 4 asking if a policy on hunting should be developed, with both Commissioners Betty Hull and Bob Leavitt responding, discussing a possible policy. According to Lancaster, this was a violation of the Colorado Sunshine Law, which prohibits more than two members of a public board from discussing policy outside of an advertised public forum, or through email.

"To my fellow commissioners, I am sorry you have been painted by the brush of mistrust. During a November training session, the EVPC was advised that it would be a good practice to bring the entire Planning Commission into the agenda setting process, rather than have the agenda be exclusively set by the chairman and the Community Development Director, which has been the tradition," Schneider said. "Recently however, and prior to having such a session, the chairman was looking for ideas regarding future meetings, knowing the number issues we would likely address in 2018 were vast. Some of the commissioners responded to the email which we have been told constitutes a violation of the Sunshine Law.

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Our understanding was that email messages discussing pending actions by the EVPC constitute a meeting and they are subject to the law. At no time were any agenda items established, or topics discussed that are currently under review by the EVPC. There was never any intent to violate any provision of the Sunshine Law, nor any attempt to prevent anyone from knowing what we were doing. We take our duties seriously, including the requirements to adhere to the conditions of the Sunshine Law and to conduct business in a transparent fashion."

Schneider said that due to this situation, the EVPC has decided to make all their emails public, as well as prohibiting any and all discussions by email that may require action, regardless of the topic.

Schneider pledged the EVPC will be obtaining additional guidance from the Town on permitted forms of communication and work with the Town to find an acceptable way for the Commission to provide input on agenda items. Schneider said the EVPC is requesting specific guidelines moving forward.

Schneider said that the Commission will be requesting periodic meetings with the Town Board and the Larimer County Commissioners to "improve communication, understanding and collaboration" between the three groups. He said the Commission is also considering having an additional study session during the month to work on the updating the Comprehensive Plan and to discuss potential agenda items in a public forum.

"In the coming year we will face many challenges, such as development and writing of a Comprehensive Plan, traffic, parking, workforce housing, important Estes Valley development code changes, and significant development projects," Schneider said. "We look forward to working with the Town, County, local organizations and citizens of the Estes Valley on these tasks. It is our goal to more openly demonstrate our commitment to this community to regain public trust."

During the public comment portion of the meeting, resident Dick Spealman said that the EVPC has been unduly criticized the last five or six months.

"Someone has to look out for those other than the occupants of the EDC or the downtown groups and I thank you for doing that," Spealman said. "It doesn't often get in the papers, but you are appreciated more than you know."

Resident Connie Phipps said that she needs to the talk about what she called the elephant in the room, the Trail-Gazette editorial on Jan. 12.

"I really think they need to do a better job, and I think you guys do a great job," Phipps said. "I thought it was terrible that the editorial was so disparaging against this great group of people. I would hope the Trail would be more accurate and the people who are involved with that would really look at what is happening and stop making outlandish claims."

Commissioner Hull said that it was the editorial in the Trail-Gazette was a public face slap and was very hard for her, and she appreciated the kind comments from the public.

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